Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan are all neighbors to the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan. It is renowned for its rough mountains, which are great for climbing and camping. Near the nation’s capital Dushanbe, the Fann Mountains have snow-capped peaks that reach over 5,000 meters. The Iskanderkulsky Nature Refuge, a well-known bird refuge called for Iskanderkul, a turquoise lake created by glaciers, is part of the range.
Reuters, BEIJING, February 23 – Tajikistan was shaken by an earthquake on Thursday at 8:37 a.m. (0037 GMT) that was about 7.2 on the Richter scale and occurred at a depth of 10 km (6 miles), according to the China Earthquake Networks Center and official television in China, CCTV.
According to CCTV, the earthquake’s epicentre was about 82 kilometers from the closest Chinese border and was felt powerfully in some parts of China’s western Xinjiang region, including Kashgar and Artux.
There were no casualty reports. According to official media Xinhua, communication and power supplies in Kashgar were unaffected.
According to state media, the Xinjiang railroad agency stopped all passenger trains on the Southern Xinjiang railway’s Aksu to Kashgar section.
According to CCTV, local officials were checking bridges, tunnels, and signal apparatus.
According to estimates, “little or no people” would be at risk from landslides caused by the earthquake. As of Thursday morning at 7:00 GMT, there were also no reports of earthquake fatalities.
About 67 kilometers from the tiny mountain town of Murghob, the quake’s epicentre looked to be in Gorno-Badakhshan, a semi-autonomous eastern region that borders China and Afghanistan.
About 20 minutes after the original earthquake, a 5.0-magnitude aftershock struck the region, followed by a 4.6-magnitude quake.
Different earthquake magnitudes have been recorded by a few scientific organizations.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre [EMSC], which initially recorded a 7.1-magnitude quake, revised the size of the temblor to 6.3. According to the China Earthquake Networks Center.
Extremely vulnerable to natural catastrophes
Lake Sarez is located within the thinly populated region, which is bordered by the imposing Pamir Mountains.
One of Tajikistan’s biggest lakes, the aquamarine-colored body of water was created by an earthquake in 1911.
Experts have cautioned that if a natural dam in the Pamir mountains behind Lake Sarez were to be breached, the results would be catastrophic.
The experience of floods, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, and heavy snowfalls in Tajikistan is similar to that of much of the rest of Central Asia.
Nine people perished in an avalanche on February 15 in Gorno-Badakhshan earlier this month, and another person perished in an avalanche on a highway close to the city Dushanbe the same day.